Australia v England – story of day five

England surrendered tamely and quickly as Australia took six wickets in under a session to go 2-0 up in the Ashes with a 120-run victory.

Steve Smith’s men were right back on their game as the Adelaide Oval sunshine came out to play at last on the final afternoon, Josh Hazlewood wasting no time with the instant wickets of nightwatchman Chris Woakes and England captain Joe Root in successive overs.

After that, despite the best efforts of Jonny Bairstow, the rest was just details as England were all out for 233 after being set 354 to level the series wiuth Mitchell Strac finishing with five for 88.

Terrible start

Joe Root was dismissed without adding to his overnight total as England lost the second Test (Jason O’Brien/PA)

England’s supporters arrived in a state of cautious and nervy optimism. It did not last long, though, with Woakes and Root gone in the blink of an eye to fine bowling from Hazlewood. At 177 for six, in under 10 minutes, a feasible long shot had become a no-hoper.

Not too little, just too late

A post shared by We Are England Cricket (@englandcricket) on Dec 5, 2017 at 7:30am PST

England’s performance with bat and ball here between tea on day three and stumps on day four was exemplary. They had left themselves far too much to do, though, and are struggling to sustain a competitive level for the duration of a Test.

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